Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape

Hi F&F,

For this week’s photo challenge: escape, I’m posting a few photos of the Metro Tech Commons (MTC) located in Downtown Brooklyn. It stands in the center of Brooklyn’s business district which boasts more than 17 million square feet of office space. It is home to such business as Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Chase and the Securities Industry Automation Corporation (SIAC).

Thousands of people work in the high-rise buildings and at lunchtime thousands of them escape the confines of those offices. They flee the fluorescent lights and canned air and head for the sunlight and fresh (relatively speaking) air of the 3.5 acre privately owned public space.

The Metro Tech Commons (MTC) and places like it are a God New York City Department of City Planning send to urban dwellers. It is all thanks to the 1961 Zoning Resolution. The resolution attempts to make a more livable and more loveable city. One of the features of the 1961 Zoning Resolution is an incentive program that encourages developers to include open space such as plazas, courts and yards in their design.

I think the concepts of the zoning resolution are filled with good intentions, but unfortunately execution of the decree by developers can be hit or miss. My photos show the MTC on a fine weekday afternoon, when the green space was in full swing. On the weekends the commons are commonly deserted. On this day folks flocked to the eating establishments that surround the area. Most took their lunch to go; so they could go sit under the arching trees. A midday escape to recharge the batteries for the 2nd half of the day.

Peace,

ATreeGrowsinBklyn

Leisure for Less: Art Museum Day is May 18th

Hi F&F,

The Association of Art Museum Directors and it’s member museums will be hosting Art Museum Day. Saturday, May 18^th, museums from Arizona to Wyoming will be offering free or reduced admission fees and special programs in “an international celebration of the importance of museums in our world”.

The 2013 theme is Museums (Memory + Creativity) = Social Change.  In order to expand the museum going community and cultivate engagement, participants are being encouraged to share their experiences with the institutions and with their social circle, by posting to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.  Click HERE to get the full list of AAMD Member Museums celebrating Art Museum Day 2013. 

Click HERE to link to  information for the International  Museum Day celebration. You will find listings for participating institutions from Africa to Oceania. 

Be sure to share this information with others so they can enjoy enriching culture for less. 

Peace,

ATreeGrowsinBklyn

 

Related articles

• Museums in New York that Offer Free Admission to Kids (local.answers.com)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Pattern

Hi F&F,

Patterns occur every where.  They can be the handiwork of mother nature or they can be manmade.  Patterns can be orderly and symmetrical or they can be chaotic and irregular. For this week’s photo challenge: Pattern.  I picked two instances where commonplace objects are multiplied to form a pattern. The pattern then forms an uncommon object; a work of art.

Peace,

ATreeGrowsinBklyn

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Making Family Drama Where There Isn’t Any

In each family a story is playing itself out, and each family's story embodies its hope and despair. --Augustus Napier

Peace,

ATreeGrowsinBklyn

Tiptoe Through the Tulips and the Memories

Hi F&F,

Last week I shared pictures of cherry blossoms from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This Mother’s Day I’m giving you tulips. This is my first Mother’s Day without Mom, Inc. I can’t give her flowers today, but that’s ok.  I gave her plenty of flowers to celebrate Mother’s Day and I gave her still more flowers on ordinary days (her favorite to receive).

My mom and I enjoyed each other’s company. We liked to hang out together.  The BBG was one of our many hang out spots.   I tiptoed over to the tulips and took some pictures and took in a lot of lovely memories.

Today, I’ll be thinking of Mom; hanging out with those memories.  I’ll tread softly through each one; not because they are fragile, but because they are so very precious to me.  I’ll laugh a little. I’ll cry a little. I’ll be grateful. Because that’s what you do when you receive an amazing gift from a loved one.

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Peace,

ATreeGrowsinBklyn

(A small subsidiary of Mom, Inc.)

Weekly Photo Challenge: From Above

Hi F&F,

This Sunday was the TD Five Boro Bike Tour. The 40 mile route takes thousands of cyclists through all the boroughs, including the best borough, Brooklyn. In fact, the tour passes not far from where I live and it does pass right in front of where I work. 

Getting to work on tour day was no fun. This is, especially, true for me because I harbor a deep seeded fear (perhaps, more of an anxiety) of being hit by a bicycle.  Thankfully, I’ve never been hit with a bike (I have been hit by a car), but I’ve been a witness to some horrendous accidents.  Its staggering how, on the surface, a bicycle that seems so innocuous and user-friendly; can cause a whole heap of damage.  As New York prepares to roll out an expansive bike share program; I must admit, as a bipedal, I’m a little anxious for my safety.

But for now, I successfully crossed Flushing Avenue, on Sunday. It is a good first step in surmounting my anxiety over what the city streets may become once the Citi Bike is in place and a zillion “cyclotourists” climb onboard.

For this week’s photo challenge, I’m sharing a view of the TD Five Boro Bike Tour.  I felt so much better watching the bikes pass by from my elevated vantage point; safely from above it all; far from the buzzing wheels.

Peace,

ATreeGrowsinBklyn

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• Thousands To Ride In 5 Boro Bike Tour (wnyc.org)
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The Bold & the Beautiful: The Cherry Blossoms of Brooklyn

Hi F&F,

The ornamental cherry trees at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) are almost as famous as their cousins in Japan. The trees in the BBG are “A-listers”. They are superstars in every sense of the word.  They are pampered, they have groupies, they are hounded by the paparazzi, and they sometimes act the Diva by not showing up on time for their big show – the Sakura Matsuri festival. The BBG trees get all the notoriety and adulation that comes with celebrity.

I must admit, I’m a fan of the BBG trees.  I don’t go to the festival anymore because its crazy crowded, but I make it my business to take a peek at the blooms as close to their peak as possible. This year was no exception; but this year I was feeling sorry for the other cherry trees. There are cherry trees all across Brooklyn that get no love.  These are the “B listers”.  If they were in showbiz they’d be performing in Dinner Theater or on a cruise ship. These trees are very “talented”. They are hardworking and working under some harsh conditions. They are real troopers; yet they will never stand on the grand red carpet Esplanade. For these trees, the show must go on; even if it’s for an audience of one.

For this post I’ve got photos of “A” list trees and “B” list trees.  So audience put your hands together and show some love for the bold and the beautiful – ALL the cheery blossoms of Brooklyn!

Peace,

ATreeGrowsinBklyn

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Eye Spy: A May December Relationship

Hi F&F,

I spied a bright young thing clinging to an odd rusty thing. This was a May December relationship. And while this match incited the usual stares and whispers; it was devoid of the usual innuendo and reproach.

This pairing is not salacious. It is symbiotic.  It’s the old thing giving support and structure to a young thing.  It is the young thing giving an old thing a renewed purpose for being.

There is an object lesson here.

Peace,

ATreeGrowsinBklyn

Eye Spy: I’m Stumped

Hi F&F

While walking home my eye spied this…..

This painted tree stump has ATreeGrowsinBklyn stumped.

Peace,

ATreeGrowsinBklyn

Weekly Photo Challenge: Up

Hi F&F,

Here are a few photos for this week’s challenge.

Flag flying over the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Escapees!

Red, white and blue sky

Green roof and blue sky

Crisscrossing escalators

Peace,

ATreeGrowsinBklyn

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